The Six Days of Christmas, OR Mistletoe
by The anti-Fleur
Summary: It's Christmas at Hogwarts and Harry and Ron are both having girl trouble. R/Hr and H/new character (Andromeda returns!)
1. Beginnings

__

Tuesday – CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas at Hogwarts was always an extravagant affair. This year was no different. Candles flickered red-and-green flames against the walls where they were set, and garlands of bright tinsel gleamed their light back at them. The usual numerous Christmas trees were dotted around the castle, and this time some were bewitched to move around, so that you would occasionally find one blocking a crucial path, but usually it was just a pleasant surprise to see one where it had not been before. Then there were the fairy lights – real fairies, clad in tiny multicoloured robes – and, more worryingly, the sprigs of mistletoe enchanted to hover above people's heads here and there. 

More than once Harry and Ron had observed a hapless male student being accosted by a group of giggling female classmates when he was unfortunate enough to hesitate beneath the mistletoe. Hermione, thankfully, seemed immune to that sort of behaviour, unlike Parvati and Lavender, who Seamus and Dean kept moaning rather unconvincingly about. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione were on the way to dinner on Christmas Day when they passed under a small mistletoe branch. Ron looked extremely worried about this and dashed ahead of his friends. 'Don't worry, Ron,' said Hermione acidly, 'I don't think anyone's about to kiss you.' 

'_Well_,' said Ron, feigning offence, 'I find that very hurtful, Hermione, not to mention inaccurate.'

'What?' snorted Harry. 'I don't see any girls rushing towards you at high speed-' 

With a crash, Ron was knocked to the ground by somebody sprinting by. She promptly got entangled in his flailing limbs and fell over too. They both sat up and stared at each other. Ron, looking back at Harry, raised his eyebrows and grinned. 'I think you're going to have to take that last statement back.'

He got to his feet and helped the girl to hers. 'Sorry about that,' she said, red-faced, and rushed off again. 

The three friends were halfway through dinner when the girl dashed into the hall. 'Does she go everywhere at high speed?' Hermione said. 

All three of them, though, were watching her as she headed for a seat at the Slytherin table, almost bare as most Slytherins had little to fear from Voldemort, and so had gone home for the holidays. '_Slytherin_?' said Harry, aghast. 'She didn't seem like a Slytherin.' 

'How could you tell? She only said a few words.' 

'But for most Slytherins, those words would be unpleasant.' Harry took in the girl's unkempt, very long dark hair. It was an unusual colour, because before he had seen that her eyes were vivid blue. It seemed that her clumsiness extended to other things, because before long she had knocked her goblet over and sent juice streaming over the table. 

Hermione watched the girl suspiciously. What had she been running so fast for? Unless she'd just wanted an excuse to get Ron's attention…

Hermione shook that thought out of her head. What did it matter if the girl did like Ron? It wasn't as though… It was easy to see why she would, though… Ron wasn't heartthrob material by any means, but he had a vulnerable look about him, an awkwardness that made her just want to give him a hug… and those lovely brown eyes…

Hermione shook those thoughts out of her head too, even harder. Thoughts like these had been creeping in there far too often for her liking. What was going on? It was just Ron. Annoying, sarcastic, tactless, gangly Ron. Funny, quick, loveable Ron, with those wide, always-surprised eyes…

__

Aaaaarrrrgghhhh! Bloody hell! Shut up! She resolved to think of nothing but the enormous meal before her (and perhaps the essay she had to do for Arithmancy) for the rest of the evening. 

Those of you who have read Fifth Year will recognise Andromeda Green! I quite liked her, so I have brought her back, changed very slightly, and her meeting with Harry is also a bit different. I have, however, kept the location of the library as the place where they get to know each other. She still doesn't have that much personality, but I like her anyway. Please tell me if you do!

I know I write too many Ron/Hermione stories. Even I'm getting bored of it now. So my next three stories, I hereby decree, will be: 1) A romance with Ron and someone other than Hermione. 2) A romance with Hermione and someone other than Ron. 3) A story with neither of them in it. These fics will not necessarily be in that order, but I WILL do them. Really!

Humorous spelling correction corner: Microsoft Word wanted me to change 'Parvati' to 'parfait'.


	2. Happenings

__

Wednesday – BOXING DAY

The effects of yesterday's excess were being felt by most of the Gryffindors, and so nothing more than laying about was really being done in the common room that morning. The exceptions were Lavender Brown, who was surreptitiously dieting and hadn't eaten much, and Fred and George Weasley, who were looking shifty in a corner. 

Ron was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the way his brothers kept glancing his way, and turned his chair slightly so that he didn't have to look at them. 'What's up with them?' he grumbled to Harry. 'You'd think they wouldn't have the energy to even stand up, with the amount of food they consumed between them.' 

'Well, they aren't exactly exerting themselves,' said Hermione.

'Yeah, and you managed to find the energy to beat at least seven people at chess this morning,' Harry pointed out. Just then, the conversation was interrupted by a crash outside the portrait hole. 

Several Gryffindors, including Harry, piled out to have a look. Harry was surprised to see the dark-haired girl from yesterday, standing amidst the wreckage of a green-and-gold vase that had until a minute ago stood on a plinth nearby. 

'Hello,' he said, trying to hold back a smile. 'Did you run into it?' 

She stared at him for a moment, obviously trying to place him. Then her expression softened and she gave a sheepish smile. 'Well… yes.' 

Harry grinned. 'It's probably OK,' he said thoughtfully, and produced his wand. '_Reparo_!' The pieces of the vase sprang back together. 

'Oh, thanks, that's the third time I've broken one of those vases this term… my name's Andromeda Green, by the way. I do run into things rather a lot.' 

'I'm-'

'Oh, I know who you are,' said Andromeda. Then she looked embarrassed. 'Sorry – it must get really annoying, people saying that.' 

'Not too bad,' lied Harry. 

'Listen, you don't have the History of Magic assignment for the holidays, do you? There are no Slytherins from my class here, and I've left it somewhere as usual… I know your class gets the same work as us, Binns was going on about how behind we were.' 

Harry assured her he would fetch the assignment, and headed back into the common room to get it. On entering he saw Fred and George, wands drawn, levitating a piece of enchanted mistletoe slowly towards the area just above where Ron and Hermione were sitting. He shook his head and dashed up the stairs into his dormitory, where his homework was in a large pile under his bed. 

As he walked back down the stairs he could hear a chant of 'Kiss! Kiss!' led by the twins, and Ron and Hermione were both very red-faced and annoyed-looking beneath the mistletoe sprig. Harry resisted the temptation to join in and left the common room rather reluctantly. 

'You _have_ to kiss, it's the rules,' said George impatiently to Ron and Hermione. 

'Yeah, it's bad luck if you don't,' added Fred. 

'You've just made that up,' Ron accused. 

'OK, but you still have to! Come on, Ron, just get it over with…' 

The chant got louder again and Ron, almost purple in the face and unable to bear the embarrassment any longer, leant forward and pecked Hermione very quickly on the cheek. Her face glowed as deeply as his. The Gryffindors cheered and a moment later were back to their business. 

Harry handed the piece of parchment to Andromeda, then hesitated. 'Do you mind if I work with you?' he asked, before he had time to reconsider. 

She looked slightly puzzled, but said, 'OK.' _Working on Boxing Day?_ Harry thought to himself. _What would Ron say? Oh well, Hermione would approve._ And they headed for the library together. 

Ron, horribly embarrassed by the mistletoe event, had retreated to a corner of the room where the silence wasn't as uncomfortable as it had been between him and Hermione. Unfortunately, Fred and George seemed to see his solitude as an invitation to join him. 

'So, ickle Ronniekins, what was that all about then?' 

'What?' 

'That under the mistletoe!' 

'Oh, _that_. That was about you two humiliating me in front of everyone, including…'

'Hermione?' 

'No! Why would that… I mean… You embarrassed her too.' 

'I wonder why?' said Fred, looking curiously at George. 

'Maybe…'

'…it's because…'

'…those two…' 

'Look,' said Ron, annoyed, 'I don't know what you're implying but it's getting on my nerves.' 

'Yeah, you don't,' said Fred sceptically. 

'I _don't_. And stop with the Twinspeak.' 

'Twinspeak? Don't…'

'…know what…'

'…you're talking…'

'…about.' 

'Seriously, Ron, haven't you _noticed_?' 

'Noticed _what_?' 

'You… and… her!' said George, as though he was talking to someone very stupid. 

'Me and _Hermione_?' 

'No, you and Professor McGonagall,' said Fred, then winced. 'No, I shouldn't even have joked about that one.' 

'No, you shouldn't,' George agreed. 'Ron, honestly! Why else would you have been so embarrassed about having to kiss her?' 

Ron was dumbstruck. '_Hermione?_ Hermione Granger? Me and her? That's… that's ridiculous! She's just _Hermione_! You are SO WRONG.' And he turned around to storm off – only to find himself staring at Hermione, who was standing as though frozen just a few feet away. 

Time had passed quickly for Harry. He had found that Andromeda, despite being clumsier than Neville and about as forgetful, also had a wicked sense of humour and was very intelligent… as well as having bright, sparkly blue eyes. It was a shame she was a Slytherin, he thought. 

'Better get back to the common room,' she said with a sigh after they had finished the History of Magic homework. 'Great…'

'Not great?' Harry said. 

'_Not_ great. Half the Slytherins' families are Death Eaters, so most of them have gone safely home, leaving a few of us to rattle around over Christmas. It's better than when they are here, I suppose. At least there's no Draco Malfoy behaving like a prat…' She caught the expression on his face at the mention of Malfoy's name. 'Do you know him?' 

'You could say that,' Harry said diplomatically. Then he abandoned all pretence. 'So he acts like that to Slytherins as well, then?' 

'Oh, yes, especially ones like me that aren't _purebloods_. He's such a… well, you know.' 

Harry nodded and grinned. 'Oh well, you can always come and visit me in the Gryffindor room.' _Oh no_, he thought, _I shouldn't have said that. What am I doing?_

But Andromeda was smiling back. 'That would be nice,' she said. 'Oh! Damn! I still haven't started my Potions essay, I promised myself I'd have that finished by Christmas Day…' And she was off again, before Harry could say goodbye. 


	3. Wondering

__

Thursday

It was a clearer morning than it had been before, and although there was a fresh wind ripping through the trees outside, the Gryffindors in the tower could only see the cloudless sky. It put most of them in a good mood. However, Ron was not one of those, which was evident as he sunk down in an armchair opposite Harry and grumbled, 'Hermione isn't talking to me.' 

'Why?' Harry asked dutifully. 

'Oh, it was that kissing thing yesterday… she heard me telling Fred and George that I, well, wasn't going out with her, and she got all moody! Honestly, I don't get her sometimes…' He shook his head. 

'Right,' said Harry, not sure whether he should be honest or just agree with Ron. His friend's moods were sometimes difficult to gauge. He opted for changing the subject. 'You know Andromeda?' 

'It's a star or something, isn't it?' 

'No, Andromeda the girl,' Harry said. 'Slytherin, quite short, dark brown hair, blue eyes, clumsy…' 

'Oh, the one that ran into me,' said Ron with a smirk. 

'Yeah, her.'

'Well? What about her?' 

'Oh, I was just working with her yesterday, that's all. She seems really nice.' 

'Oh yeah?' Ron raised an eyebrow, something he was obviously not very good at as it caused him to make a very uncomfortable-looking face. 'Nice in what way?' 

Harry blushed. 'I shouldn't have brought it up,' he said. 

'Oh, you can't back out now! Nice in what way?' 

'Lots of ways,' Harry mumbled. 'No! It's just, she's friendly, and clever, and quite funny, and she's got nice eyes…' 

'What about Cho Chang?' 

'What about her?' Harry was surprised to find that he did not automatically turn red at the mention of Cho's name. 

'It must be love,' said Ron, trying to raise his eyebrow again and looking as though he had something stuck in his throat. 'So when did you find this out?' 

'We did History of Magic homework in the library yesterday, while you and Hermione were snogging.' 

'WE WERE NOT SNOGGING!' said Ron, startling a group of first-years who were playing Gobstones in a corner. 'Anyway, that's not the point, are you going to ask her out?' 

'What? No! Not yet! I don't even know if I like her that way…' 

'It sounds like that to me, mate.' 

'And she probably doesn't like me.' 

'Harry, are you joking? You're the Boy Who Lived. You're famous. And also fairly rich. Plus, you've got dark hair and rather interesting green eyes, which girls seem to like, judging by the response for the Yule Ball last year. And – no freckles.' 

'Shut up,' said Harry. 'Anyway, Hermione doesn't seem to mind freckles.' 

Ron whacked him with a cushion. 'Don't you start. I've had it up to here with people asking me if I'm going out with Hermione. It's a ridiculous idea! Can't anybody see that?' 

'Then why was she so bothered yesterday?' 

Ron looked confused. 'I _don't know_. I wish I did. Why do girls have to be so difficult?' 

Harry didn't comment, but privately, he would have liked an answer to that question himself. 


	4. Taking Action

__

Friday

Harry and Ron were doing their Divination homework. Or this was the pretence. 

Harry was idly smoothing the feather of his quill as he planned what he was going to say to Andromeda. Why did it have to be so hard? Hadn't the Yule Ball fiasco been torture enough? OK. _Andromeda, I really enjoyed us working together the other day and I'd like it if we could do it again. Or maybe we could do something else. How about next time we go to Hogsmeade, we could meet up? _

__

That's terrible.

Ron failed to realise that he was getting ink all over his left cheek as he fiddled absent-mindedly with his quill. Why hadn't Hermione started talking to him again yet? Usually, if you left her more than a day, she'd have something to say again. And he'd been loudly cheating on his homework to try and get her to come over. But she was sitting next to Parvati and Lavender, looking thoroughly bored with their conversation. What could he say to her? _Hermione, I'm really sorry for what I said. I don't know why you got upset, though, because it was only the truth…_

__

That's terrible. 

After a while, Harry couldn't stand to be cooped up any more. The clear weather had inspired most of the Gryffindors to take walks in the grounds – why shouldn't he do the same? Ron promised to catch up with him as soon as he'd finished his Divination. _That's not like Ron_, thought Harry, but his friend's decision was explained much better by the fact that Hermione was sitting alone by the fire. He left through the portrait hole to give them some privacy. 

Ron walked over to where Hermione sat looking dejected. 'Hello,' he said cautiously. 

She turned and looked up at him, then said very coldly, 'Hello.' 

'Not going for a walk then?' 

'Apparently not.' 

'Me neither?' 

'Really? I hadn't noticed.' 

Ron paused. Firstly, he was feeling very uncomfortable, and secondly, Hermione was using sarcasm much more effectively than he could, which was slightly unnerving. He decided just to go for it. 'Hermione, I'm really sorry about the other day.' 

'Why?' 

The dreaded question. Now what was he going to say? 'Well, er… I hurt your feelings… and I didn't mean anything by it. I didn't mean no one would want to go out with you, that's not true, obviously… you're quite pretty with your hair up…' (_AAAHHH! NOOO! SAY SOMETHING BETTER, QUICKLY!_) '…and it suits you even better down… er… and you're really clever, and you care about people – and elves – so it really isn't true that no one would want to go out with you. Just… I'm not. Going out with you. And I was just telling Fred and George that.' 

She regarded him, looking very slightly amused, but still angry. 'Finished?' 

'Er, yeah.' 

'Good. Because yet again, you've totally missed the point.' And she flounced up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. 

'What am I supposed to DO?!' demanded Ron angrily to the seemingly empty common room. 

'Stop talking to yourself?' suggested a sixth-year on the other side of the room. 

Harry, meanwhile, was wandering along by the lake, musing over what he would say to Andromeda. He'd thought about it a lot now, and the words still weren't changing into anything remotely good enough. He supposed he'd just have to leave it. After all, it would be trouble, going out with a Slytherin. And that was even if she said yes, which, he thought, she probably wouldn't…

But nevertheless, when he saw her walking on the other side of the lake, he got up and started running. He almost didn't catch up with her – but in the end he did. And he asked her. Just like that. He couldn't even remember the words he used. But it wasn't important, because she said yes.

That night, both boys had things on their minds. Harry, because there was a Hogsmeade visit tomorrow and he would have to find places to go with Andromeda; and Ron, because when he had been listing all the good things about Hermione, he had realised how very much he meant them. 


	5. Developments

__

Saturday

Harry was nervous. Forget Quidditch games, the only time he could remember feeling this anxious was right before he'd faced the Hungarian Horntail. _Andromeda is not a dragon_, he reminded himself sternly. _She is a girl. Like Hermione, or Ginny, or Lavender or Parvati. She is not scary. _

But Harry _was_ scared. He couldn't help it. Embarrassingly enough, this was the first time he'd actually had – well, a date with a girl. You couldn't count the Yule Ball with Parvati, or his two-year crush on Cho as anything. And he had not felt about either of them how he felt about Andromeda. 

As soon as he met her in the Entrance Hall the fear seemed to vanish. She really wasn't scary, he realised happily, as they made their way into Hogsmeade. She was easy to talk to. They had no trouble finding things to say – there was so much they didn't know about each other, and were eager to learn. 

Once they arrived in the village, though, it was a different matter. Suddenly it hit Harry how few things there were to do in Hogsmeade. It was a nice place to get out of the school with your friends, but with – (what could he call Andromeda? He wasn't sure) – he was just stuck. 

'So,' said Andromeda, smiling, 'what are we going to do now?' 

'Weeeeeeelllllllllllll,' said Harry very slowly, hoping that inspiration would come to him as he spoke (it didn't), 'we could – er…'

'Go to the Three Broomsticks?' Andromeda suggested. 

'Er, yeah. OK.' And so that was what they did. A Butterbeer later, though, the inn was filling with Hogwarts students and villagers and they could barely make themselves heard over the din. 

'Shall we go for a walk?' Harry shouted. 

'Yeah,' she shouted back. 

They walked for a while down a little street neither of them had come across before. The houses were small, untidy but pretty in an odd sort of way. 'I'd like to live here,' sighed Andromeda. 

'Where _do_ you live?' Harry asked. 

'In Poddington Green,' she replied. 'It's a little village in Kent. We're just on the outskirts, with lots of green space around us, so my parents can do some magic without being noticed by people nearby. How about you?' 

'Little Whinging,' Harry said darkly. Though reluctant to elaborate, he continued, 'It's in Surrey. I live with my aunt and uncle and my cousin. They're _awful_, I can't wait to get out. What's your family like?' 

'They're OK,' said Andromeda. 'It's noisy in my house, and my parents are always working, and we've all got fairly hot tempers so it's not the most peaceful place. But we get on all right. I've got two sisters – Persephone and Ariadne – and a brother, Jason. All younger. Persephone's coming to Hogwarts next year, or should be – she's been causing things to blow up since she was three years old.' 

Harry laughed at that. 'My cousin's the same age as us, he's called Dudley. He's spoilt rotten. Whereas I… I used to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs, let's just leave it at that.' 

'_Really?_ That's terrible!' Andromeda looked truly angry on his behalf, which Harry found quite touching. 'Used to? So you don't any more?' 

'No, when I got called to Hogwarts they started being scared of me and since then it's been a bit better.' 

'It's still horrible.' Andromeda seemed quite disturbed by this revelation. She didn't speak for a while. As they reached the end of the road, she caught sight of a bench beneath a tree and sat down heavily on it. 

'It's all right,' Harry said, perturbed by her silence. 'They didn't hurt me or anything, and look what a well-rounded individual I've turned out.' He grinned, but Andromeda was still looking pensive. 

'Harry, why did you ask me to come with you today?' she asked suddenly. 

'Well, because – er – I like you. Quite a lot.' _What a terrible way to put it!_

'But _why_? What's so special about _me_?' 

'Well, at first I was just shallow and thought you were pretty.' 

'_Really?_ Me?' Andromeda looked amused. 'That's not something people say to me often.' 

'Well, they should. Your eyes, most of all.' Harry could feel his face turning scarlet. 'And then because you made me laugh, and you were friendly. And then we got on so well when we were working together – and I kept thinking about you. And you were nice to me, so I thought maybe… you liked me too.' 

She said nothing. 

'Well, do you?' 

'Yes,' said Andromeda quietly. Then her eyes took on a mischievous glint and she said, 'Er – I like you quite a lot.' 

Harry blushed, but smiled back at Andromeda. Then he became aware of something just outside his line of vision, and looked up. 

Attached to the branch of the tree was a small sprig of mistletoe. 

Andromeda followed his gaze, and seemed amused by the sight of the mistletoe hanging there inconspicuously. 'It's not Christmas any more,' she said lightly. 

'But it's bad luck if you're under the mistletoe and you don't kiss,' said Harry. _Honestly, Fred and George, you're a bad influence on me_. 

'Yeah, right,' said Andromeda with a smirk. But she kissed him anyway. 


	6. Resolution

__

Sunday

Ron had decided he was heartily sick of mistletoe. 

Every time Harry mentioned Andromeda – which was rather often – someone new seemed to come over and want to know the story of how they had got together. Ron had heard the story enough times to recite it off by heart, including the self-conscious flick of his fringe Harry did at intervals during the telling of it. 

It had been him Andromeda had bumped into, after all. Harry hadn't even said thank you! Not that it was really Ron's doing at all… but a mention of the circumstances would have been nice. Ron couldn't help but feel, at times like these, that Harry was getting all the glory. 

__

That's perfectly all right, he told himself crossly. _She's Harry's girlfriend, not yours. You don't even fancy her. You just want people to pay attention to you._

What's so wrong with that? asked a second voice inside his head, and Ron resolved immediately to stop having arguments with himself. 

Slightly bored of Harry's company, as his friend seemed unable to concentrate on anything other than Andromeda, Ron stayed up later than the other Gryffindor boys, which was how he found himself alone in the common room. And then – _oh no_ – he started thinking about Hermione. This was something he had tried not to do in the past couple of days. Since it had hit him that he was having Feelings for Hermione – Feelings that you weren't supposed to have about your best friend – he had tried his best to forget that she existed. It wasn't working, of course, which was evident in the fact that he thought about her every time he wasn't wholly occupied. And even some of the time he _was_ wholly occupied. 

He heard footsteps outside the portrait hole, which was just as well, Ron thought. Maybe whoever it was would have a conversation with him, or even get on his nerves, and then he would stop drifting off into worrying daydreams. But it was not to be, because the portrait swung out and there was Hermione. 

She stopped in the doorway when she saw him sitting there, but then strode forward defiantly. 'Goodnight, Ron,' she said loftily, and headed for the stairs to the girls' dormitory. 

'Hermione, wait,' said Ron before he knew what he was doing. Hermione stopped again, turned around. There was an uncertain expression on her face. Ron plunged on. 'I don't want us to be like this any more. I need to talk to you.' 

She hesitated, then said, 'All right', but didn't move. 

'Come over here then!' 

'Oh… OK…' 

Ron waited until she was sitting opposite him, then took a deep breath. 'OK. I didn't get the point the other day. Or before that. But do you want to tell me what the point _is_?' 

'If I still need to tell you, you aren't ready to hear.' 

__

Damn. He had hoped she would make it a bit easier for him. 'Well, I don't think you need to tell me… that is, if I've got the _right_ point…' Silence. 'Right. Hermione. I said to Fred and George the other day that you were 'just Hermione'. Well, that isn't true. Not any more. I don't feel the same way about Harry as I do about you – thankfully – and I haven't for a while. I just didn't figure out before why that was. Now, I think I know.' 

'Well, why?' Hermione's hand were shaking a little. 

Ron thought carefully, then said, 'Er….'

'Well that's enlightening.' 

He smiled. 'All right. Hermione, when I was telling you all those reasons someone might want to go out with you the other day, I didn't just make them up. They're really, really true. That's what I think about when I think about you, which has been quite a lot recently… Hermione, they're the reasons _I_ want to go out with you. Or whatever the equivalent of that is when the only place you can go is Hogsmeade.' 

Hermione looked as though she was about to cry. _Aaaaargh! No! This can't be happening!_ 'Hermione, what's wrong? Have I been a total idiot again?' 

'No, no, you haven't… not at all…'

'Well, what then?' 

'Ron, do you have _any idea_ how long I've waited to hear you say that?' 

'_Really?_ So – it's not just me then? You feel the same way?' 

'Of course I do!' For a moment, they just grinned at each other stupidly. Then something made them both look upwards. There, hanging in mid-air, was Fred and George's enchanted mistletoe sprig, directly above them. 

You can guess the rest. 


End file.
